


And I will follow

by acidmatze



Category: DOGS (Manga)
Genre: Heine and Badou always get into trouble, M/M, Slow Burn, and gunfights, lots of swearing, the usual Dogs stuff, very slow burn indeed, will add tags as the story goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-28 03:57:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6314398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidmatze/pseuds/acidmatze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Heine will learn that a sudden addition to his pack is the least of his problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> My first work completely in English. This has not been beta'ed so there might be mistakes. I beg your pardon.

“How the fuck did we even end up in this shitty situation?” Heine thought, carrying Badou over his shoulder as he made his way back to the church.   
Badou, being unconscious and bleeding and all, couldn't answer this of course. 

They had accepted a mission from Granny Liza, to prevent a drug trade in some shady warehouse in the worst part of town.   
Sounded easy enough. Just jumping in there and mow down some mooks and let someone else take care of the goods. 

Heine wondered briefly since when they started to care about drug trading rings, but he figured as long as he would get paid in the end, he doesn't need to waste time thinking about it.   
But the prospect of walking in there, killing some guys and then walking out was quickly crushed when more and more guys appeared.   
Suddenly Badou and Heine were facing a small army and even though Heine had no need to be concerned about bullet holes, Badou was down on his knees after roughly ten minutes. Heine acted as a shield for him but ran out of bullets a few minutes later. Refusing to use the dropped guns of the mooks instead, he grabbed Badou and made a dash for the exit.   
Certainly not heroic but otherwise Badou would have died at the ripe age of 20 something.   
At least they weren't followed. 

Badou had passed out after a few hundred metres, bleeding from everywhere.

“Shit Badou, you can pay for the cleaning”

Badou, still unconscious, did not answer.

 

Heine kicked the door to the church open and hurried over to the room Bishop used to patch Badou up. Heine never needed this, of course. 

“What? Are you already back?”, Bishop asked in astonishment.

“No need to celebrate. The whole thing was a trap” Heine explained, “Badou here was a pin cushion again. We barely made it out.”   
Bishop started to treat Badou's wounds and Heine briefly questioned that guys blindness. He was moving with uncanny precision. 

“Is Nill awake?” Heine asked. 

“Of course she is. She's in her room, with Naoto.”

Heine's face that was calm in one second turned into a grimace in the other. 

“Never mind then. I can give it to her another time.” 

“Oh, you had a present for her?” Bishop asked.   
Heine waved aside.

“It was nothing special. I have to tell Granny Liza about the mishap now. I don't think she will be happy about it.” 

He exited the room and almost bumped into some weird other guy.   
Who the fuck is that? The church is almost always devoid of visitors, except for Heine and his pack. 

“Look where the fuck you're going, bro” said the stranger. 

“Fuck you” Heine answered simply. 

 

As he expected, Granny Liza was not happy about the failed mission.   
He had been anxious to go there. First, he would be around Liza without anyone to accompany him for the first time.   
He was scared of women, Granny Liza was a woman, easy as that.   
Second, it was the first time they couldn't complete a mission.   
If Granny Liza would refuse to give them any more jobs he would have to go job hunting again. And there weren't many people left who would employ him.   
He had the reputation of causing more destruction than necessary. No one wants to pay the collateral damage.   
Badou would have an easier time with finding work again. 

Granny Liza tapped her finger against her leg while they were sitting across from each other, as usual. 

“Are you listening, Heine?”   
Heine nodded. He hadn't been listening. He was a bad listener.   
Granny Liza let out a sigh.

“You did not. You really need to wash your ears, young man. I said, that we think that the drug deals are part of something bigger. There were a lot of kidnappings in the Stray Dog district in the last few weeks. Then they suddenly stopped and the gangs started to expand their drug businesses. We think that this is a cover. They want to trick the police and everyone else to start focussing on the drug trade, so they can prepare for something. We do not know what it is but we doubled our protection around the neighbourhood. You know that we are a popular target. Since Badou and you didn't manage to disrupt the drug deal, I have to come up with a new plan to counter them.” 

Heine rested his head on his hand. 

“Wouldn't it be easier to find out what they are planning? If they seriously want to start something big we can't waste time with prodding around in the dark, right?”

Granny Liza nodded. 

“You are correct, that would be faster. You know what? Send Badou to me when he is well again. As a PI it will be easy for him to gather information about this. I will give you half the money, for your efforts. And please learn to listen. It will help you in the future. You can't rely on other people to be your ears, Heine.” 

He would give the money to Badou. And then head back home. He did not sleep for two days so maybe this night would be better. Maybe his mind would shut up with all the nightmares. 

 

When Heine entered the church, Badou was sitting in one of the pews, seemingly alive and kicking. 

“Yo Heine! Have you been to Liza's?” Badou asked. 

A crutch leaned on the pews and Heine could see some bandages around Badou's leg and both wrists. How many bullet holes did he get this time? How is Badou even still alive?   
Heine sat down next to his “friend” and handed him the money.

“It's half of what she promised us, for our efforts.”

“You're not taking anything?” Badou wondered. 

Heine shook his head.

“Nah. You're always complaining about being short on money so shut your trap and be happy about it.”

The door to the confessional opened and the guy from a few hours before came out. 

“Who the fuck is that guy?”, Heine asked “I bumped into him when I went to Liza's.” 

“No clue, man. When I came to he was talking to Bishop about something. He has guns. But he doesn't seem to belong to a gang.”

“Are you fucking talking about me?”, the guy shouted, “If you have to say something, then say it to my damn face.”

He had short reddish brown hair and a stubbly beard. Clothing wise there was not much to say, black old stuff. He also looked shorter than Heine and Badou but stockier. 

“Please refrain from cursing, this is a house of God after all” Bishop said. 

“As if anyone of us would care about that shit..” the guy mumbled. 

Bishop cleared his throat. He would let that comment slide, for now. Another such a thing and that guy would make good acquaintance with his cane.   
Bishop might be blind but he wasn't a doormat. 

“Alright then, this is Thies and from today on he will work with you. That's an indirect order by the chief of the police department himself.”

Heine raised an eyebrow.

“An indirect order? What the hell is that?”

Thies began speaking before Bishop could answer.

“I did some shit and was taken to the PD. They punished me a bit and then I did more shit. The Chief was sick of all that and said I should work in a church to do something good for once. So I came here. But this shithole isn't exactly what I thought a church would be so if things work out, I will still do shit but get paid for it this time.”

Silence. 

The four men were just staring at each other. Well, except Bishop maybe. 

Badou was the first one to talk.

“So you're going to send this rookie with us? You know Heine and me are a team, right? We are a duo, not a trio. Splitting the money between three people is hell. We barely have enough to live with two.” 

“I don't want to work with you anyway. I do my own damn thing!” Thies declared and Heine let out a sneer.

“Good luck with that. You will be dead before I leave this building.”

Bishop stepped in.

“And to prevent him from dying, you will accompany him on his first job.” 

Heine blinked and let out a flat  
“What?” 

Bishop nodded. 

“It's a simple thing. You will be back in no time. You simply need to deliver something for me.”

“Are we postmen now?” 

Bishop walked over to Heine and held an envelope in his face. 

“Just take it and deliver it to the address written on it.” 

“So we are postmen now...” Heine mumbled and took the letter. A quick glance told him that the address in question was on the outskirts of the city. 

“What the fu...” 

“No swearing” Bishop said and walked away. 

Thies looked at the envelope with an uninterested look. 

“Where's that? And who wrote that? I thought that dude was blind. Looks like a girl wrote it.” 

“Probably Nill or Naoto..” Heine mumbled while putting the letter in his pocket.   
He walked out of the church. But before he left he patted Badou on the shoulder. 

“Liza says you should come to her when you are well again” 

Badou grunted. 

“I'm just gonna go buy some cigs, get a shower, take a shit and then sleep. Liza can wait.”

 

Heine strolled down the main street above ground trying to find a tram stop of a line that would even go as far as the outskirts.   
Thies was walking behind him, keeping his distance. He had no intentions of becoming friendly with that weird white-haired guy.   
Doing things in teams wasn't his style any more. 

“You'll be back in no time my ass. It takes at least an hour to go that far by tram. And the sun is already setting” Heine mumbled to himself. 

“Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark” Thies teased. 

Heine stopped and growled at the short guy. 

“Idiot! The tram doesn't go at night. But you can fucking walk there for all I care. If we don't find a line that goes there I go home. Do whatever you want then.”

“We can always call a taxi” Thies said and smirked. Then he found a tram stop. 

“Look at this. Seems like we can take this line to go to the outskirts. Maybe we are lucky and make it before it gets dark.” 

Heine scoffed. He hated the tram. Normally it was cramped and it took fucking ages to go anywhere. Also it was expensive.   
If he had the choice he would walk everywhere. But this time he couldn't be picky about it. The fastest way to get rid of this annoying child was to take the tram. 

They were the only ones waiting at the stop. According to the timetable the next tram should stop there in five minutes.   
Five minutes too long for Heine. He just wanted to get over with the whole thing.   
That new kid smelled weird. Not like someone with bad hygiene, it was a smell that Heine couldn't really explain. All he knew that it made him wrinkle his nose. He tried to remember where he had smelled it before. 

The tram arrived and they got in. Since Heine had no money Thies had to pay for the tickets.   
He sat down next to an old lady and started chatting with her while Heine preferred to stand right next to the exit.   
He felt himself getting tired. Staying up for two days with no rest started to take its toll. When he arrived at home he would switch on the TV to some mind-numbing programme and try to fall asleep on the couch. That was a good plan. 

The old lady Thies was talking to exited the tram after three stops and now the seat beside him was empty.   
Thies side-eyed Heine who looked like he would fall asleep any second. The red-haired man let out a high-pitched whistle to get Heine's attention. Heine opened one eye. 

“What.” 

Thies gestured next to him. 

“You should sit down.”

Heine just snarled at him. 

Thies rolled his eyes.

“I was just trying to be friendly, dude. You look like you're going to keel over any second.”

He looked out of the dirty window. They were going through the oldest part of town.   
It looked like it has been already there since the world still had seasons.   
He had read a diary of his great great grandfather who mentioned “Summer”. According to him the temperature would rise to over 30 degrees Celsius.   
That sounded really hot. Now when the temperature reaches 12 degrees people talk about how warm it is.   
It was impossible for Thies and everyone he had met, to imagine that you could expect different weather conditions per month.   
They still had months and a calendar of course, but according to the diary the month July and the month December meant a complete change of weather. 

Before he could dive into any further thoughts someone pulled his arm.

“We have arrived. Get out” Heine simply said. 

The stop seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The few houses that the men could see were villas.   
Whoever would get the letter was damn rich. Also it was completely dark now since there were absolutely no street lamps. 

Heine scowled. 

“How the hell are we supposed to find the house now?”

Thies sniffed the air. There was a strange scent around. They were above ground so normally the air should smell clean and cold, but instead it smelled kinda musty. 

“It smells weird...” Thies whispered and reached for his gun in the holster. 

Heine sniffed now too.

“Smells normal to me. Stop freaking out.”

Thies refused to move while Heine made his way down the road. They better looked for a road sign so they would know where they even are. 

“But we are above ground!” Thies shouted, “It shouldn't smell like this! There's something wrong.”

“The ventilation system for the Below is right under us. You see the vents in the ground? That's where the smell is coming from. Stop freaking out and move.”

Thies took a deep breath. Maybe Heine was right. He just freaked out about the darkness and the absence of lights.   
Sure the moon was already quite high in the sky and almost full but it still was just enough light to not bump into everything. 

Heine found a street sign. They should be one block away from the destination.   
He would just deliver the damn letter and then look for the fastest way back.   
This wasn't a neighbourhood fitting for those two guys.   
It didn't even seem to fit with the rest of the city. 

They walked the rest of the way without talking. 

Heine put the envelope into the mail box and then wondered how they were supposed to get back. 

Thies scratched his neck. 

“Are the missions always this trivial?” 

Heine glared at him. 

“What?, Thies wanted to defend himself, “Everyone could have done this. Why did that bishop guy send us?” 

“It must be part of a bigger picture. Let's get out of here. This area doesn't feel safe any more.”

Heine picked up a brisk pace as they walked down the shallow hill where they came from. He hoped that somewhere around here would be a bus stop or anything and that they could catch one.   
Thies had trouble to keep up. 

“What do you mean it doesn't feel safe?” he asked. 

Heine kept up the pace. They turned right and seemed to leave this block. The houses now looked a little more like they were used to. And finally there were street lamps again. 

Thies caught up to Heine and reached for his shoulder.

“Hey! Tell me what you meant with that.”

Heine swatted the shorter guy's hand away. 

“Don't touch me. And don't turn around. We're being followed.”


	2. Strays

Badou frowned when he opened his mail box and only bills were inside of it.  
Rent, the boiler, electricity and water. The usual.  
Badou put them on the kitchen table and thought to himself that he would worry about this later. Maybe he could talk the landlord into giving him a discount or something for information.  
The apartment building he lived in changed residents really fast and since most of them were connected to shady things it was always appreciated to know what exactly they were doing.  
For Badou, this part was child's play. 

He just came back from the bathroom when he heard gunshots below his window. A normal occurrence around here but today Badou felt incredibly pissed off about it.  
He just wanted to sleep now and whatever caused those people down there to settle their dispute with guns, they had to stop. Or do it somewhere else.  
He opened the window with one swift motion and peeked out. It was dark outside but he could still clearly see two guys running away from a group of gangsters who were shooting at them.  
One of the two guys had white hair. Unusual.  
Badou just wanted to lie down on the couch when he froze. White hair. 

“Godammit Heine...”

He picked up his two Mac-10 and ran down the stairwell. Did Heine seriously forget to pick up new ammo? Maybe that guy has Alzheimer's or something. And why was his companion not shooting? Did he run out of ammo too?  
Badou slammed the door open. 

The group was nowhere to be seen but the tall man could clearly hear gunshots and screaming. 

“Godammit Heine...”

What did he get himself into this time?  
Badou ran down the street, anxious to find his partner again.  
If they have no way to defend themselves even Heine's inability to die wont help them. And who knows when a stray bullet would finally hit him in the head and end his life for sure.  
Also that Newbie was still with him. 

“This time we kill that fucking zombie bastard for sure!” someone yelled.

They couldn't be far away.  
Badou turned around a corner and found the whole group. 

Heine and the Newbie were backed up against a corner. Heine was calm as usual but the new kid looked at least mildly in panic. 

Badou released some warning shots that caused the whole group of gangsters to turn around and face him.

“Who the fuck are you?” one of them screamed. 

“Just some random passer-by. Don't you think it's time to dance?” 

He fired some more shots.  
Now the whole group of gangsters started following him. 

“Great job at being a pin-cushion again” Heine mumbled. 

Thies took out two knives from his pockets. He handed one to Heine.

“The red-head is injured. We should help him. Also, aren't you friends with him?”

“Friends would be an overstatement” 

They both started following the group of mooks who were following Badou who was frantically running away without really knowing where to go.  
One of his wounds in his legs was open again so he left a trail of blood behind him.  
It was a small miracle that none of the many bullets had hit him so far.  
Maybe some weird goddess of luck took a liking on him for once. 

Badou was still shooting at the guys and managed to take two down.  
Then another one was collapsing. And another one. 

Thies and Heine plunged their knives into them.  
Heine had no real idea how to use them but it surely was enough to stop them from running after Badou.  
Thies on the other hand seemed to know exactly where to cut and wasn't stingy about it. 

Because Badou was so focused on shooting at the guys he did not know where he was heading to.  
A rail caught him by surprise. He looked straight ahead and did not like what he saw.  
If he would have fallen over that rail he would have fallen into the city's sewers.  
He held onto the rail for his dear life while still shooting. 

They almost caught him.  
One of them was stumbling towards Badou. He held a knife too.  
But before he could reach Badou Heine threw him to the ground and stabbed him in the back. 

Badou stared at Heine who by now was exactly as bloody as Badou. The difference was that it wasn't his own blood in Heine's case. 

“Dude, what the fuck...” Badou managed to say. 

“I have no idea how they found us.” Heine said.

“Where did they belong to? They didn't look like Calcerino's men. And even if they were, how did they find you? And also...” Badou made a disgusted face. 

“What?”

“Is the Newbie still stabbing a dead guy?” 

Badou pointed at Thies who was hovering over one of the dead mooks and repeatedly plunged his knife into him. 

Heine furrowed his brows. 

“The fuck is wrong with him?” 

Badou walked over to Thies grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him away from the body.  
Thies growled at Badou. 

“Wow there!” the tall man let go of him “You sure are aggressive. Anger problems, maybe?” 

“We ran the whole fucking way here. One might be a little aggressive after this” Thies panted. Now he was starting to realise how much they had run. All this for a damn letter. 

Heine leaned on the rail. 

“I better hope this letter was worth all that shit. Are all of them dead?”

Badou kicked one of the mooks and he groaned slightly. 

 

“Nope. At least one is alive. Should we call an ambulance and get the fuck away from here?” 

Heine nodded. 

“You do that.” 

Badou looked around for a payphone. 

“Why call an ambulance? Can't we just let them die or something?” Thies asked. 

Badou sneered. 

“You sure are cruel, boy. Unless we know why they attacked you we can't risk that shit. If we kill them all now you will have five more in your shower when you come home. And then again some more when you wake up in the morning.”

“And they will show mercy when not all of them are dead or what?” Thies snorted. 

Heine made his way back to the church. 

While passing the two guys he said: “Maybe they will. Maybe not. You will know when you are able to open your eyes again tomorrow.” 

Thies rubbed his neck. 

“Fuck that shit. I'm going home. Need to wash the blood off and shit.” 

Badou was done with phoning. 

“Yeah we better get lost, the ambulance will be here soon. Also, aren't you injured?” 

Thies felt around his chest. 

“That's weird. I could have sworn I was shot somewhere around here. Maybe I just imagined it. That happens to me sometimes.”

Badou slightly hit Thies's back. 

“Get a better grip on reality. You gonna need that. Make sure to show up at the church tomorrow. Maybe you can get a real job then.” 

 

When Thies came home there were no gangsters in his shower or anywhere. Thies felt slightly anxious when he opened his bedroom door with one hand and a gun in the other hand.  
The room was empty too. No one had been here.  
The bearded man let out a sigh of relief.  
He put his gun on the night stand beside his “bed” which was not much more than a mattress on the floor with two thin blankets over it.  
Thies opened a drawer and pulled out a pack of meds.  
Since he was a child he had auditory hallucinations and took pills for it. As long as he took them the voice would leave him alone.  
When he was younger it was just a faint whisper in his ear. But the older he got the more aggressive it became.  
When he stabbed those guys it was there too, urging him on to throw the knife away and just bite and scratch those fuckers to death. 

Thies took one pill more than advised just to be sure the voice didn't came back.  
He then went to the living room sat on the couch and put on some stupid reality TV.  
It was barely eleven in the evening, way too early to be asleep.  
_You could have killed them all._

“Shut up” Thies said to no one really. 

As the pills started working the voice became fainter and fainter again and Thies could relax. 

 

It was around nine in the morning when Heine arrived at the church.  
He had hoped to be able to sleep better this night but his scar had hurt and made sleeping almost impossible.  
He pushed open the heavy door and was greeted with the usual silence. No one was there.  
Almost. 

Heine could hear a weird tink-tink noise coming from the left side of the church.  
This is were he kept his ammo. Who the fuck dared to touch it? 

He rushed over to find Thies sitting on the floor tinkering with something. 

“What the hell are you doing there?” Heine barked “Did you touch anything?” 

Thies flinched and looked over his shoulder. 

“Easy man. I'm not touching your stuff. I wanted to clean my gun and now I can't put it back together. It's frustrating.” 

Heine took the pieces right from Thies's hands. Within twenty seconds he had put the pistol back together and gave it to the short man. 

“This was fucking clumsy. You haven't had this one for long, have you? If you keep this shit up your gun wont even last a year.” 

Thies put the gun away. 

“How long have you had yours?” 

Heine looked straight ahead for a few seconds before answering: “A long time.”

Thies walked around the church for a while. What were they waiting for? 

It was still very early in the morning for him. Normally he would have gotten up at noon but today he woke up at seven and spent all his morning in this church.  
No one came in, besides Heine. 

It seemed like it wasn't even locked up at night. But there was nothing to steal anyway. 

The short guy played around with his knife. 

“I grew up using the knives my grandfather gave me. He collected them. He had almost 100 different knives, it was amazing. When he passed six months ago I inherited his gun I didn't knew he had.”

“So you killed people with knives?” Heine asked. 

Thies simply nodded. 

“You need to learn how to use your gun properly or you will get killed. There's a shooting range we use from time to time to practice. Ask Badou to take you there.”

“Why don't you take me there?” 

Heine scoffed.

“I'm not the best teacher around. Trust me, Badou is better at this.”

 

The door to Bishop's quarters opened.

“Alright boys. While you were hopefully sleeping tightly in your beds I gathered some information regarding the kidnappings. By the way, where is Badou?”

“How should I know..?” Heine grumbled. 

“Judging from his injuries he is in bed, I hope” Thies said.

Bishop cleared his throat slightly. 

“Okay then I need to rethink my plan. Give me a few hours and come back later.” 

“What?” 

Bishop threw an annoyed glance at Heine. 

“Well, I am blind and this kid here is loosing his hearing it seems.” he muttered under his breath. Thies suppressed a chuckle.

“What?” 

“I said you should come back later. I need to rethink things” Bishop said loud enough to have his words echoing from the church walls. 

“I heard you already. No need to scream.” Heine growled. 

Thies rolled his eyes.

“This conversation is a mess. See you later.”

 

He headed to the door which was opened a second before he could reach the handle. Before he could react the end of a katana was pointing directly between his eyes.

“Whoa, how wild...” he simply said. 

The person who was holding the kanata, a young woman with short black hair, stared directly in his face. She wouldn't have needed a sword in the first place, her eyes were glaring enough daggers to kill someone. 

“Who are you?” she said. 

Bishop decided to answer for him.

“He's just the new guy, please let him live. You're here for the briefing right, Naoto?” 

Naoto let her sword down and walked right past Thies who was sighing of relief. 

Then he looked at Heine. If they had time now then he could show Thies the shooting range, right?  
Wrong. 

Heine headed straight to the door without betting an eye on Thies.  
The white haired guy looked like a cat that was about to be thrown in cold water. 

“I'm going to sleep. What a waste of time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is much shorter than the last one. Sorry for that.


	3. Conversation

Thies exited the church just a few seconds after Heine, who really went home.   
Thies hadn't eaten anything so far so he decided to head to Boun Viaggio. It was lunch time anyway. 

 

And of all the people Badou was sitting inside wolfing down his pasta like he hadn't eaten anything in days.

“What are you doing here?” Thies asked. 

Badou stared at the short guy in disbelief for solid ten seconds. 

“What the hell does this look like, kid? Do you think I can cook for myself with those wounds? I can barely hold a fork.”

Thies sat next to Badou. He felt awkward to sit all alone even though he felt even more awkward next to the tall man. 

“I've been to the church” Thies explained out of nowhere, “But the Bishop said he needs to rethink some things since you didn't show up. So we were send home again. Is it always this chaotic?” 

Badou fished a cigarette from his pack in his pockets. Kiri glowed at him while taking Thies' order.

“No smoking inside the restaurant, Badou. You know that.” 

Badou let out a sigh. 

“Come on. You see that I can't walk around easily.” 

He pointed to his crutch leaning on the table. 

“No exceptions” 

Badou leaned back looking defeated. He picked up a toothpick to chew on that instead. 

“You know”, he started, “I also haven't been to Liza's yet. I know there are some kidnappings going on and drug dealing and all that shit sounded really serious but I'm not like that freak-show Heine. I don't heal within thirty seconds. But I also can't send someone else.”

“You were able to run really fast yesterday” Thies sneered. 

Badou grumbled. 

“Idiot. You fools were in danger, of course I come running then.” 

“Badou to the rescue” 

Badou chuckled. 

“Of course.” 

Thies received his lunch, pancakes and bacon and Badou downed his coffee. 

“Heine is one weird guy...” the red head mumbled. 

“Huh?”

“Yeah he heals in seconds, even though someone emptied a whole round into him. And sometimes it seems like he's talking to himself. Which wouldn't be so special since we all do that from time to time. But he says stuff like 'Shut up' or 'Don't talk to me while I'm busy' even when there's no one around. I pretend that I don't hear him. He has some screws loose. He explained it briefly to Naoto. It has something to do with the scars on his neck and some blah blah about Dogs and collars and some freaky underground kindergarten and stuff.” 

Thies started laughing. 

“Dude, that sounds so crazy. But knowing this city I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. Anything is possible here. Do you remember those freaky earthquakes and those weird soldiers?” 

“Remember? We were right in the middle of it! It was a mess!” 

“Tell me about it!” 

And so Badou told Thies about it. For two hours they talked about the explosions, the black soldiers and all the freaky stuff that had happened lately. 

 

And then Heine barged in. 

“Heard someone was talking shit about me? I knew you would be here. Get your asses in gear and go back to the church.”

“Good you're here now. I ran out of coffee because of those two” Kiri tried to joke with the white haired guy. 

“Uh... yeah. Sorry to hear that.”

Badou grabbed his crutch. 

“Alright. I'm gonna come with you. Whatever that priest wants it seems to be important if he wants all of us to be there.” 

They walked out of the restaurant after Badou and Thies paid and left some spare money as a tip, for all the coffee. 

“Did you get some sleep?” Thies asked Heine who growled.

“Don't get all friendly with me. It's none of your concern.” 

“Man I just wanted to be considerate and shit. It's called good manners. Anyway if your scar hurts it helps to put a warm wet cloth on it and let it soak. Mostly scars hurt because the skin is dry and tightens and shit.” 

Heine glared at Thies and then at Badou. 

Thies sighed.

“It's obvious what's under the bandages. Most big scars are ugly as shit, so of course you wanna cover them up. You aren't the type of guy who needs to display them to scare people away. Your aura does that just fine.”

Badou snorted.

“His.... aura.” 

They arrived at the church. 

Bishop was already awaiting them.

“Is Badou with you?” he asked.

“I am here.” Badou answered. 

They sat down on the pews and since Naoto was still there Heine ended up glaring at her. The whole time. 

Bishop was standing in front of the altar and seemed to look at the four contractors in front of him. And again everyone doubted that he was blind. 

“So first, the letter Heine and the new guy delivered contained wanted photographs of dubious content. The house you delivered them to belonged to a highly ranked police officer who we suspect to be connected to the kidnappings. It would explain why the police isn't doing anything about them. They are sweeping this case under the rug or else they might find out that some of their best men literally have some skeletons in their closets. We are going to blackmail that officer into spilling all the info he has. There are a lot more of those pics where the last ones came from.”

Heine scratched his neck. 

“So, then why do you need all the four of us?”

“Isn't this obvious? You all need to be informed about our next step. Depending on how the reaction may be there will be more or less fighting. If everything goes well that exact guy pulls the strings and we can either kill him or add some more pressure to get him to stop. In the worst case we have to face the whole police force and at least one gang.”

“A gang? You mean it could be that they are paying some guys to kidnap the kids for them so they don't get their hands dirty?” Badou asked. 

Bishop nodded. 

“Exactly that. Now all we have to do is wait for the police guy to react to the threats. Don't relax yet.”

“We never relax.” 

 

“Ugh now what should we do the whole time?” Thies complained putting his feet on the pew before him. 

“I have rented some movies” Badou said “If you want we can watch them together.”

“Yeah maybe later. I need to give Nill the present first” Heine mumbled. 

Since Naoto had left the church he wasn't hesitant to seek the girl out anymore. But interacting with her while the sword maiden was glaring at him? No, thank you. 

“Can I come too?” Thies asked Badou who flicked him on the nose as an answer.

“I wouldn't have asked in you presence if I wanted to exclude you, fool. You know where I live?”

Thies shook his head. 

“Huh. You know where Heine lives?” 

“Vaguely.” 

Badou nodded.

“Good enough. Meet up with him at eight. I have to go now, get some more rest.”

 

Thies opened his eyes again when he heard heavy boots on the church floor. Could only be Heine.   
Which was good because Thies wanted to talk to him. They were a team now and communication is essential. For Thies at least. 

“Hey Heine, can I talk to you?” he asked. Maybe being polite as shit would get him to his goal. 

Heine turned around and growled. 

“What do you want to talk about? We have gotten our order. There is nothing to talk about.”

Thies made a face.

“Seriously, what do I have to do to get you to stop acting like you have an entire swarm of bees up your ass?”

Heine scowled. 

“We can talk later at Badou's place.”

“Nope, the question I have for you is nothing you would want to answer in front of Badou.” 

Heine sighed. 

“If I wouldn't answer it in front of Badou, chances are slim that I would answer at all. I regret this already but.. what is your question?”

Thies was speechless for a second. He didn't think he would get that far. 

Okay, now he just had to figure out how not to make it creepy. 

“Uuhh.. I.. no. Badou hinted that you are hearing voices of some sort. I do that too and just wondered if they are the reason you can't sleep. I hear them since I am a child. It's only one actually but very persistent. I take meds for it and..”

Heine cut him off. 

“No. The voice isn't the reason and no, pills wouldn't help me. You wont help me either, so stop trying. If you want to get me to open up then don't pester me all the time. See you later.” 

Thies looked up at the ceiling. Well, that was a total failure.   
Maybe he would have better luck next time.   
They were a team after all, dammit. He can't trust someone who he doesn't know anything about. 

 

Thies barely found the apartment building Heine lived in. It was five minutes to eight and no sign of anything.   
There was light burning on the seventh floor. It was almost the only light in the building.   
No one was on the streets either. Well, it was getting really cold now, maybe it was snowing above ground.   
Now the light was turned off.

Thirty seconds later the front door was opened and Heine was standing in the darkness, looking around. He was wearing glasses, odd. 

Thies approached him. 

“I'm ready, if you are.” 

Heine simply nodded. 

They walked in silence for five minutes or so. No one passed them, the streets were totally empty.   
If Thies would walk alone at this time he would find this suspicious and panic but since he was in company of someone he let his guard down. 

“So why do you keep bugging me? We just met yesterday.” Heine said. 

Thies scratched his head.

“Well, we are a team, sort of. I thought it would be nice to know each other. I'm gonna bug Badou too, don't worry.” 

“Don't you start with normal questions first? Or do you always ask random people about mental illnesses and shit?” 

Thies dug around in his pocket and pulled out a really small brightly coloured rubber ball. 

“What the fuck?” Heine asked. 

“Let's ask each other questions. I throw the ball on the road and who catches it can ask a question.”

Heine furrowed his brows.

“Is this a fucking school trip or something?” 

He couldn't help it to think that this idea wasn't as stupid as it seemed to be.   
If that boy would start asking really personal shit, he would just take the ball and smash it in his face or something.   
And the walk to Badou wasn't that long anyway. It would be over soon. 

Thies threw the ball at the ground. It bounced up again against a street sign and almost against Heine's head who caught the ball before it could hit him. 

“So I can ask a question? How old are you?” 

“24.” Thies simply answered “Throw it.” 

Heine threw it and it rolled away. Thies started running to catch it before it could roll in the gutter.

“My turn now. Do you have siblings?” 

Heine looked pained for a second. Seemed like this was too personal. 

Thies felt like apologising.

“Sorry, you don't have to answer. You can ask...”

“I have a brother.” Heine answered quickly. 

“I have a brother too. And a sister. At least that's what my grandfather told me. I don't know them personally.”

Thies scratched his neck. Until now he never felt weird for not asking about his own siblings. But now it was too late, his grandfather was dead. 

He threw the ball and Heine caught it. 

“Why did you grew up at your grandfather?” 

Asking too personal questions was a game they both can play. 

“I don't know much. He said they had an accident and died, so he took care of me. I was in that accident too. That's where I got the scar from. I'm Harry Potter.” 

Heine stopped walking and looked at Thies in confusion.

“Who's Harry Potter?” 

Thies waved aside. 

“N-Nothing. I made a joke. It's an old book. Throw the ball.”

Heine threw it and it came right back to him. Another question. Good, they were almost at Badou's place.   
If Heine could manage to get a long answer from Thies he maybe wouldn't have to answer any stupid questions again.   
So, what question could cause a long answer?

“What did you do that caused you to be targeted by the police?” 

“Shit” was the answer.

Fuck!   
Heine groaned.

“That's barely an answer. There are many ways to do shit. Drug trading, illegal prostitution, kidnappings, murder, bank robbery, terrorism...”

Thies let out a sigh. 

“I had some serious trouble with my ex boyfriend and tried to burn his house down, among other things. We had set up a betting ring in run-down pubs and made some good money with it. People would fight me. Knife fights mostly. I heal very fast so I would always win. After the police busted one of these pubs he got fucking mad at me and tried to drown me in the sewers and run away with the money so I took revenge.” 

“So you're a gay criminal?”

“I prefer smooth criminal. But yeah.”

Heine looked at Thies in confusion. 

“Why smooth..?” 

Thies huffed. 

“It's a song. It's about... forget it. Are we there yet?”

“Yeah”

Heine handed the rubber ball back to Thies.  
They were standing in front of a ten story building cramped between two even taller buildings.   
Unlike the building Heine lived in this one was well lit. The apartment building seemed to have small balconies even.   
So Badou had more money than Heine? Where did he get that from? 

“Don't just stand there. Let's go!” Heine snapped. 

They walked in the building and Heine headed straight for the elevator. 

Thies stopped walking. 

“Nope. Not gonna use that. Which floor does he live?” 

Heine looked at the short guy funny. 

“It's just a fucking elevator. But do whatever makes you happy. Ninth floor.”

The doors closed and Thies started running. No way he would use an elevator. He got stuck in one once and it were the worst twenty minutes of his life.   
He'd rather take the stairs no matter how high the building is. And if he would end up sprinting to the thirtieth floor than that's how his life is.   
He reached the ninth floor before Heine. 

When the elevator doors opened and the white-haired guy stepped out, Thies gasped out “First!” which caused Heine to stare at the man in confusion again. 

 

Badou's apartment smelled like smoke. Lots of smoke.   
Heine seemed to be used to it but Thies was wheezing after just one minute. 

“You have asthma or something?” Badou asked in surprise. 

“He just ran up the whole nine stairs I don't think he has trouble breathing.” Heine answered. 

“He definitely has. Look at him. He is all pale and shit.” 

Thies coughed.

“The air in here is more tobacco than oxygen. I think I just got cancer. Would you be so kind to open a window?” 

Badou opened one of the small windows in the living room. Within seconds the smoke in the room was gone. 

“Great, now someone will call the fire brigade because they think there's a fire in here with all the smoke.” Badou mumbled. 

“It can't get any worse” Thies said. 

Heine scratched his neck.

“You may say that but the next thing you know is that a jet engine just crashed in your bedroom. We gonna watch a movie now or what?” 

They squeezed themselves on Badou's tiny couch and watched some old movie about a private investigator and his ditzy apprentice.   
It was cramped and the constant smoking from Badou's side wasn't making this any cosier. 

“You take up too much space!” Thies complained at Heine. 

“Fuck you! You want me to sit on your lap instead?” 

“Just try it and I fling you outta the window, believe it.”

Badou sighed. 

“Could you maybe quit your lover's squabble for a second? It's getting interesting.” 

In the movie they were involved in the obligatory car chase scene. For such an old movie the special effects were really good. 

“So...” Badou mused “You think we will get attacked by some gangs as a revenge or will the police dude spill the beans? Judging from how things are going here he won't give in that easily.”

“He will be so mad when he sees the photos in his mailbox. I bet he will try to get his revenge. If he's the head of the police he has his ways. There's no way those pics are enough to make him buckle under the pressure.” Heine said. 

“And then we are in deep shit” was Badou's conclusion. 

“You think the Bishop has a plan?” Thies asked.

Badou and Heine looked at him slightly agitated. Badou's eyelid was even twitching. 

“I better hope so!”

“We could kidnap the guy and torture him. Like they do in that movie right now.” 

Thies pointed at the screen. 

Then they heard gunshots in the hallway. And loud voices. 

Badou took his Glock from the coffee table. 

“Seems like we have some unannounced visitors. The police dude acted faster than expected. Let's show them a warm welcome.”


End file.
